Jayson Grossberg has revived Alphabet Soup, his BYOB in Audubon, Camden County. Mindful of the economy, Grossberg is calling it Alphabet Soup Cafe (34 W. Merchant St., 856-310-0605), and he's pricing the menu to encourage people to eat there more frequently.

Sort of what he did for a spell in the kitchen at the now-closed 707, near Washington Square.

"Instead of butter-poached lobster, I'm doing lobster rolls," he explains, adding that he'll favor sustainable/organics. (With 48 hours' notice, though, he'll do up one of his old tasting menus.)

Initially, he'll serve dinner Tuesdays through Sundays, but he'll add lunch and weekend brunch. He said he'd take a space in Cherry Hill's Short Hills Shopping Center this spring for Alphabet Soup Gourmet, a prepared-foods/gourmet market with chef's table.

Out and around

Jessica Hawthorne waited tables at Carmine's Creole Cafe in its initial incarnation, when it was in Havertown. The small storefront became available last year, and that's where she and her husband, self-taught chef Mike Hawthorne, opened Kaya's Fusion Cuisine (5 Brookline Blvd., Havertown, 610-446-2780). She's waiting tables again - and running the front of the house. Kaya's, a BYOB named after their daughter, serves toothsome classics (crab cakes, pork chop, duck breast) in a dark (deep red) atmosphere. Signature dessert is the cheesecake from a recipe created by his grandmother Jean, who baked it for years under the company name Margaret O'Brien's. Kaya's is open Tuesdays through Saturdays for dinner; Sunday brunch will start March 1.

Reconfigurations

Al Paris and George Parkinson have converted Mantra (122 S. 18th St., 215-988-1211) from pan-Asian to an Italian concept called Bar Amalfi. Prices top out at $18. It's dinner only daily; lunch will start later.

Aoi, the Japanese place at 1210 Walnut St. known primarily for its all-you-can-eat special, has gone away. It's now Aki (215-985-1838), from new owner Tom Lau, though chef Ben Watanabe is back. Lau, a Hong Kong-born New Yorker, has redone the place with touches of fieldstone, dark woods and gray and red velvet banquettes. The bar has 16 varieties of sake. It's open from lunchtime through late night daily.

What's coming

The Kibitz Room, the Cherry Hill deli, has started construction of a Center City location at 1521 Locust St. It's up for the spring. It's unrelated to Kibitz in the City, near Washington Square.

The 1623 E. Passyunk Ave. storefront that was Roselena's is on its way to new life as Michael's Cafe, a comfort-fooder offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. Owner Michael Klouston, looking at March, is for keeping much of the kitsch and adding his Fiestaware collection.

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Contact columnist Michael Klein at 215-854-5514 or mklein@phillynews.com.